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Lost a rainbow - 2 more doing same thing

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On 3/6 I noticed one of my original male neon dwarf rainbows at the top of the tank, breathing hard at the surface. Within 24 hrs he was dead. No marks, bumps, red gills, scales all nice and flat against the body, color good. Here is a video of what he was doing:

I now have 2 more rainbows (both females) doing the same thing. They look the same as always. It is only the rainbows who are having a problem, all the other fish are fine. Water is 0/0/10 pH 7.0 – 7.2, temp 77.2, GH 4. As I use RO/DI water, the parameters are consistent from week to week. Just did a 40% water change yesterday and cleaned the left side filter.

I thought maybe these were older fish when I bought them. They have been very healthy, very active and with good appetites – until now. Again, it is only the rainbows who are having trouble.

After 3 months, could this be from cycling my tank back on 12/19 with the rainbows and the Tetra Safe Start? If that's the case, I will be very sad as I love my rainbows. I cycled that way at the urging of my LFS guy (don't yell too loudly at me). If this is the reason, I will have a talk with him, as the rainbows are not an inexpensive fish and I really like them. I will be very upset if I lose any more of them. The shop owner told me she would never have recommended the rainbows for cycling, as they are expensive.

Bows have very sensitive gills and are high Oxygen fish. It's very possible you did a water change and exposed them to chlorine or sterilant during a water change, burned them up a bit and they have sort of hung around a while. I generally do only a 35% water change on my bow tanks to avoid burning them. I do two 35%ers to equal a 50% weekly. If you think through your preceeding change you may come to this conclusion. Although the bows were not the best idea for cycling you must have had a very smooth one. Any little problem and they would have been lost. I doubt that you damaged the and that if you did they hung around. Usually these guys don't live long after getting hit with some ammonia etc. Sorry, they are cool little fish. It could be something else but if it was I think the other fish would be showing signs. Check real well for ich as these guys are very intolerant to it. They suffocate due to it fairly easily.

I am not able to view the video right now, but if Indian Woods is right and they need high oxygen levels, then you may want to put a bubbler in your tank and drop the temp a few degrees. Could just be oxygen depravation.

It looks like a healthy fish, the gills don't look red or inflamed so I doubt they were burned. How much RO/DI water are you using, are you mixing it with tap water or replenishing some of the trace minerals removed in the RO/DI process? Just wondering if it could be some deficiency in minerals. Since it looks healthy but is gasping at the surface I would start by adding an air stone, like ddavis suggested, and see if that helps.

When I go fishing I just throw sharp rocks in the water and wait for the dead fish to float to the top... KingfisherEverything happens for a reason. Sometimes that reason is you are stupid and make bad decisions. I think my fish is adjusting well to the four gallon, He's laying on his side attempting to go to sleep on the bottom of the gravel.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Dear naps, sorry I hated you so much when I was a child... Love me

It is most likely some gill burn or low oxygen, but if you cannot get things to improve, gill flukes are something to consider. I had a couple rainbow deaths, all looked ok...it was flukes. They do not show anything outward, just gasping and a pretty fast death. i used a praziquantel product, and it cleared it out.

All of my other fish were fine, so maybe rainbows are just more sensitive to gill issues. Hope you get it sorted out. I love rainbows too, and it sucks to lose them. They are beautiful, and unfrtunately expensive, as you know.

It is most likely some gill burn or low oxygen, but if you cannot get things to improve, gill flukes are something to consider. I had a couple rainbow deaths, all looked ok...it was flukes. They do not show anything outward, just gasping and a pretty fast death. i used a praziquantel product, and it cleared it out.

All of my other fish were fine, so maybe rainbows are just more sensitive to gill issues. Hope you get it sorted out. I love rainbows too, and it sucks to lose them. They are beautiful, and unfortunately expensive, as you know.

1) I will add an airstone - any particular kind and where is the best place to put it in the tank?

2) The meds - is it PraziPro? Found this on tropicalfishkeeping.com - is this correct?

Use praziquantel first. It's the safest and effective treatment. If you are battling stubborn flukes, then PURE formalin should be used. Please try to treat with prazi as per this schedule with a dosage of 2.5 mg per liter.

Day 1 -- remove carbon, perform water change with vacuuming, and add Prazi to tank
Day 2 -- add Prazi
Day 3 -- do nothing
Day 4 -- do nothing
Day 5 -- do nothing
Day 6 -- add Prazi
Day 7 -- add Prazi
Day 8 -- normal partial water change with vacuuming
Day 14 - normal partial water change, then add prazi
Day 21 - normal partial water change, then add prazi
Day 28 - normal partial water change, then add prazi
Day 35 - normal partial water change, add carbon, treatment is complete

Make sure your water is also well aerated and no need to use copper based treatments.

Originally Posted by mommy1

It looks like a healthy fish, the gills don't look red or inflamed so I doubt they were burned. How much RO/DI water are you using, are you mixing it with tap water or replenishing some of the trace minerals removed in the RO/DI process? Just wondering if it could be some deficiency in minerals. Since it looks healthy but is gasping at the surface I would start by adding an air stone, like ddavis suggested, and see if that helps.

Have only used RO/DI water, never any tap water. My tap water would kill all the fish. After a PWC I add enough Seachem Replenish to bring the tank GH to 4 - is this high enough for my fish? I have always kept it at 4.

Can't tell if the gills look a little red or not. When I look at them, they look fine.

Thanks for your help.

Here are 3 very short videos of the affected fish (sorry, they are not very good - was right up against the glass and had a hard time keeping track of the fish):

What are you feeding? They like algae and veggies. High protein can cause issues. The color is off quite a bit in them. That's what they look like if they have too much non veggie protein too. Kind of chubby, very pale.

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Have only used RO/DI water, never any tap water. My tap water would kill all the fish. After a PWC I add enough Seachem Replenish to bring the tank GH to 4 - is this high enough for my fish? I have always kept it at 4.